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PODCAST

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast

International Research Network for the Study of Science & Belief in Society

A podcast covering the latest research in the social study of science and belief, hosted by Dr Will Mason-Wilkes, Dr James Riley, Dr Rachael Shillitoe, and Dr Richard Grove, Research Fellows at the University of Birmingham. Each episode features Will, James, Rachael and Richard chatting to expert guests about their current research, how their disciplinary approach contributes to our understanding of science and belief in society and their sometimes meandering journeys into the field of science and

science social sciences

All Episodes

01:03:31

Measuring Meditation: the Study of Contemplative...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2022/07/05

Religious practices and their effects are increasingly the subject of scientific investigation. In the field of Contemplative Science, mediative practices drawn from Buddhist traditions are united with techniques of analysis from cognitive and neurosciences. In this episode, James and Will welcome Mareike Smolka, a PhD Researcher at Maastricht University in Science and Technology Studies and Fullbright Scholar at Arizona State University, who has ethnographically explored this community. Mareike’s

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00:53:43

Science and Colonial Legacies in East Africa with...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2022/06/14

In this episode, Richard and Will talk with Professor Adam Chepkwony, a Full Professor of Religion at the University of Kabianga in Kenya. Professor Chepkwony's work covers a wide range of topics including African Religion, Inter-religious Dialogue, Science and Religion, and more. In this episode, Professor Chepkwony provides his perspectiveon how issues like climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic have affected, and are perceived by, people in Kenya. Additionally, Professor Chepkwony discusses the

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00:47:13

Science and Islam in the 19th Century with Dr Sarah...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2022/06/01

In this episode, Rachael and Richard talk with Dr Sarah Qidwai, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Regensburg, Germany. Sarah’s work explores transnational and local perspectives on scientific disciplines during the long nineteenth century. In this episode, we discuss the focus of Sarah’s doctoral thesis, the Muslim polymath Sir Sayyed Ahmad Khan (1817-1898), and her latest project entitled ‘Scientism and Empire’ while examining how disciplines such as astronomy, geology, and

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00:57:03

Science Scepticism around the World with Dr Baastian...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2022/05/11

Understanding public attitudes towards science has become an increasingly important area of research in recent decades, and the importance of this kind of work has only been heightened by the emergence of COVID-19, and the diverse and unpredictable public responses to scientific and medical advice during the pandemic. In this episode Will and Richard talk to Dr Baastian Rutjens, who investigates public attitudes to science around the world, with a focus on what he describes as ‘science scepticism’

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00:58:52

Evolution and Creation in New Zealand with Dr John...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2022/03/15

In this episode James Riley and Richard Grove talk with John Stenhouse, Associate Professor of History at the University of Otago, New Zealand. John's research interests centre on the interconnections between science, religion, race, politics and gender in the modern world, particularly using New Zealand as the major site of study. We talk about the history of creationist and evolutionary ideas in New Zealand, and how a nation cannot be separated from larger complexities of empire and globalisation

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00:51:08

Cultural Psychology of the Mind with Dr. Vivian Dzokoto

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2022/02/01

In this episode, hosts Richard Grove and James Riley meet with Dr. Vivian Dzokoto, a Cultural Psychologist at Virginia Commonwealth University in the United States, to discuss her work on the cultural differences in how people think about "the mind." Dr. Dzokoto has published research on a wide range of topics. However, one of the key characteristics of her research is the examination of culture and religion. Much of her research focuses on people from West African countries, such as Ghana. In this

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00:53:08

Varieties of Atheism in Science with Professor Elaine...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2021/12/14

In this episode, hosts Rachael Shillitoe and Richard Grove, meet with Elaine Howard Ecklund, Professor of Sociology at Rice University and David R. Johnson, Associate Professor of Educational Policy Studies at Georgia State University, to discuss their new book, Varieties of Atheism in Science, out now with Oxford University Press. Elaine and David reflect on the findings of their study which draws on surveys and interviews with atheist scientists in the UK and USA. Chatting with Rachael and

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00:53:26

Science, (Con)spirituality and COVID-19 with Dr Anna...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2021/11/23

New-age spirituality, wellness and alternative health practices have been cast in a new light as the COVID-19 pandemic has unfolded. The relationship between these practices and established or mainstream science and public health has tended to be an uneasy one, and this unease has only increased during the pandemic, with online spiritualist and wellness communities providing fertile ground for the growth and spread of increasingly anti-establishment and conspiratorial ideas. To discuss these issues

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00:52:07

Fingerprinting Ghosts: Science, Technology & the...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2021/11/02

The Media of Mediumship project is running jointly at the University of Stirling and the Science Museum Group. The project team comprises Principal Investigator Professor Christine Ferguson, Co-Investigator Dr Efram Sera-Shriar and Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Emma Merkling. In this very spooky episode, Christine, Efram and Emma tell us how from the late-19th Century on, novel technologies of the period - including photographic cameras, radio transmitters and devices for producing and recording

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00:02:02

Season Two Trailer

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2021/10/06

A sneak peak of what's coming up in Season Two of The Science & Belief in Society Podcast

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00:54:09

Science and Religion in Mass Media - Dr Tom Aechtner

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2021/06/01

In the final episode of Season 1 of the Science & Belief in Society Podcast, we’re re-joined by Dr Tom Aechtner, Senior Lecturer in Religion and Science in the School Historical and Philosophical Inquiry at the University of Queensland. Tom talks us through the persuasive and rhetorical tactics used by both pro- and anti-evolutionist media and explains what science communicators can learn from their anti-evolutionary counterparts. Alongside his work on science and religion in mass media, Tom’s

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00:58:36

Science and Non-religion - Dr Lois Lee

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2021/05/06

In this episode, we talk with Dr Lois Lee about the relationship between science and non-religion and the perceived affinity between the two. Through her ground-breaking research on non-religion and unbelief, Lois discusses the role that science plays in lives of the non-religious and how this role varies across different non-religious groups. Drawing on empirical research and disaggregating what it means to be non-religious, Lois reveals the myriad ways science is and is not intertwined within the

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00:56:25

Historical Research on Science and Religion: The...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2021/04/12

In this episode James and Will welcome Dr James Ungureanu, Historian in Residence in the George L. Mosse Program in History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Honorary Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH) at the University of Queensland. Dr Ungureanu discusses his recent book Science, Religion, and the Protestant Tradition: Retracing the Origins of Conflict in which he reinterprets the origins, development, and popularization of the “conflict

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00:59:48

Science and Religion in African Contexts - Dr Bankole...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2021/03/09

In this episode we talk with Dr Bankole Falade about his recent social psychological and media research on science and religion in South Africa and Nigeria. Bankole introduces the concepts of polyphasia and cognitive dissonance, explains how they are helpful in understanding how and why individuals are able to reconcile apparently contradictory beliefs, and why these concepts are useful for researchers interested in understanding science and belief in diverse social contexts. Bankole also provides

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00:51:57

The Humanist Blockbuster and the Evolutionary Epic -...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2021/02/09

In this episode, we welcome Dr Alexander Hall, who discusses his research into the popular media representation of science and religion in the 20thcentury. He introduces us to ways of presenting science which became common on television and radio over the second half of the 20th century, which he calls the ‘evolutionary epic’ and the ‘humanist blockbuster’: grand, sweeping stories about nature and evolution, that takes us from the earliest moments of creation to now, and which in many ways echo

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00:51:56

Special: Measuring Public Attitudes - Dr Cary Funk...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2021/01/26

The Pew Research Centre is a fact tank which focuses on issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. They study U.S. politics and policy; journalism and media; internet, science and technology; religion and public life; global attitudes and trends; and U.S. social and demographic trends. To carry out such research, the team at Pew Research Centre conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. You can read more about Pew

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00:58:05

Science and Religion amongst Indian Scientists - Dr...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2021/01/12

In this episode, Dr Renny Thomas introduces his research on science and religion in India. Renny explains how his ethnographic work in Indian laboratories allowed him to explore belief systems among Indian scientists. He discusses some of the challenges of ethnographic research in scientific settings, from gaining access to negotiating insider/outsider status in the field. Renny’s work challenges orientalist assumptions and helps us to move beyond science and religion literature dominated by Western

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00:59:27

Science, Religion and Stereotypes - Dr Kimberly Rios

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2020/12/01

Our guest for this latest instalment of the Science & Belief in Society Podcast is Dr. Kimberly Rios, Associate Professor at Ohio University, whose research explores the relationship between science, religion and identity from a social psychological perspective. In this episode, Kim talks about how our perception of things as seemingly fixed as the length of a straight line are shaped by group pressures, discusses the differential impacts membership of majority and minority social groups have on

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00:27:42

Special: COVID, Conspiracies & Vaccines - Dr Tom...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2020/11/24

Recently, we caught up with Dr Tom Aechtner, Senior Lecturer in Religion and Science at the University of Queensland, to record an episode for the Science & Belief in Society podcast series. That episode, on Tom’s work around persuasion tactics in science and religion mass media communication, will be launched in Summer 2021. Tom has also been researching vaccination scepticism and anti-vaccination movements and media. Given that this is such timely work in the winter of 2020, James, Rachael and

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00:59:58

Sociological Research on Science and Religion in the...

The Science & Belief in Society Podcast ·

2020/11/03

In this episode, we talk with Dr Shiri Noy about the value of quantitative and qualitative methods in understanding public attitudes to science and religion in the US; how theoretical insights from political and cultural sociology help to better make sense of this relationship, and, for reasons that will become clear, we also talk quite a lot about Battenberg cake. Dr Shiri Noy is an Assistant Professor in Sociology at Denison University, Ohio. Her research interests are in political culture,

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42 results

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